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Sadly, both Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo have never been subtitled completely. Ctenosaur Fansubs only subbed episodes 1-12 and the movie of BWII, and only 1-6 of BWNeo. Another group was subbing both as well, but got even less further on each than Ctenosaur.

Doesn't help that neither series came out on DVD until fourteen years after each's original Japanese broadcast, and both DVD sets are ungodly expensive (even by Japanese domestic DVD standards).

The TFCog fandubs are also unfinished, but I don't recommend those since their scripts are not translations, but are instead made up based on episode synopses and on what's happening onscreen.

chaosmage42 wrote:where can i get Ctenosaur -at least i can watch past epsidoes 5

I think you can Google search the name of the show and group together and come up with some torrent links. I think I saw some on IsoHunt last time I searched it.

chaosmage42 wrote:=seriously im shocked that this hasn't been brought over -they brought over headmasters -victory

Well, all three of those series had come out on DVD by 2002-2003, which was two-three years before Metrodome got to do their subtitled DVDs, which were then released in Australia by Madman, and then years later used as the basis for Shout! Factory's DVDs. Thus, those three were doable since there existed digital copies of the masters of all three to make DVDs from. Whereas neither BWII nor BWNeo had been put on DVD until 2011 and 2012, respectively, leaving only low quality VHS tapes available to work with.

Plus, the three JG1 series were done by Toei, while the two JBW shows had been done by a different company, Ashi Production (nowadays known as Production Reed), which put the rights to those series in different hands from the JG1 cartoons.

Not to mention that any DVD release of the JG1 cartoon appealed to a relatively niche market, providing only a minimal amount of demand for what was presumably a standard-for-business supply. Had all of them been dubbed into English professionally and aired on American television before like RiD and the Unicron Trilogy were, there might have been a greater demand for them all. But, that didn't happen and likely would not have happened since there was no reason to dub any of them either during or after the times that each aired on Japanese television since Hasbro already had their own plans and agendas going on at each time, none of which required the importing of any pre-Car Robots Japanese TF cartoon.

chaosmage42 wrote:true but rid hasn't been put on dvd either

Sure it has. Car Robots came out on DVD in Japan in 2000-2001, while the RiD dub came out on DVD in the UK several times between 2004 and 2008. Thus, digital copies of that show's masters existed relatively easily.

BWII and BWNeo, however, only came out on DVD for the first time in any country in 2011-2012, resulting in no available digital masters until then.

chaosmage42 wrote:so im woundering if we will ever see it as well -though nostalgia is king now so im thinking its only a matter of time-i even saw where on earth is carman sandiego the series on dvd if they put that on i would be surprised not to seem more soon

The reason RiD never came out on DVD in the U.S. is because it was dubbed by Saban, who then sold all of their shows to Disney not long after. And now that Saban is back, the only shows they reacquired from Disney were Power Rangers, Digimon, Beetleborgs, VR Troopers, Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, and Masked Rider. Thus, Disney still owns the rights to RiD in the U.S.

chaosmage42 wrote:also is it just that the vhs are bad copies or is it that in total it has degraded

VHS tapes from 1998-1999 degrade over time.

chaosmage42 wrote:not that badly i saved 90% of mine and only about 40% of them had really bad degradation and they were mostly slp from before then. and im talking about over 1000 vhs -they don't degrade that fast though depending on the quality its recorded at it can be worse. so it really depends on the quality of the recordings-actually the vhs i bought around that time i recently used and their in fine condition

Well, the ones for BWII, particular those used by Ctenosaur, haven't been quite as maintained and preserved.

About the best quality video from that era that still looks relatively decent would be Ctenosaur's sub of the movie.

chaosmage42 wrote:i see

Yeah, compare one of their videos to a more maintained one.

chaosmage42 wrote:-also i still can't find an active download -the ones ive found so far are dead

Doesn't surprise me, since the files are so old. But, see if any of these ones work.

chaosmage42 wrote:i just wish they would bring it over -the 30th is next year its a good time to bring in the nostalgia and get more money out of dvd sales -after all we aren't going to keep buying box sets of seasons 1-4 of g1 forever

Sadly, "nostalgia" for BWII and BWNeo is virtually nonexistent in the U.S.

The Shout! Factory DVDs of the three JG1 series didn't quite sell very well either.

chaosmage42 wrote:but there is a lot of beast wars nostalgia im sure they could market them that way

The thing is, these two shows are so different from what the American Beast Wars cartoon is remember for.

The U.S. cartoon was a competent mixture of good storytelling, character development, acting, writing, directing, scripting, action, drama, comedy, endearment, darkness, depth, wit, charm, and sophistication.

When it was dubbed in Japanese, however, it was turned into slapstick comedy for Kindergartners, with lots of adlibbing, fourth wall jokes, and personalities reworked for a younger audience.

Beast Wars II and Neo were more akin to this childish tone and come off as being far more silly and campy than the American cartoon. If one were to market them as being anything remotely on the same level as the American cartoon, it would be a lie.

The nostalgia people hold towards the U.S. cartoon is for its story, its characters, and its quality. None of which are present in the two Japanese cartoons. Combined with barely anyone having known about them, much less having watch of them, at the time, a distinct lack of nostalgia towards them is hardly surprising.

chaosmage42 wrote:but im more suprised no ones managed to actually do so

A lack of interest is the main reason.

chaosmage42 wrote: - i have a friend who actually is japanese so i was going to see if he could tell me whats going on-its what i usually do.

That's cool, but sadly not everyone has that option avaialble to them at their leisure.

chaosmage42 wrote:well i can't read it that well and im lousy at catching all the little things

Read what, now?

chaosmage42 wrote:though it would be nice to see it translated

Agreed. Been wanting to see them subbed for years, myself.

Though, just this morning, someone told me that somebody's got the BWII DVD's ripped and seeded, so here's hoping something could come out of that.

chaosmage42 wrote:im contemplating talking someone into doing. Of the many things im capable of i can be very convincing -ill either talk you into it -or ill out last you and by the end you will have zoned out so much you will agree if i tell you your own mother is a turnip.

That aside i do hope for a sub -its something thats long over due -plus between idw's profile books and the big convoy i just ordered i would like to see more -also the 3 basics i ordered because their in the comic and the anime.

I think there's some grammars kinks that need to be worked out in the above body of text.

chaosmage42 wrote:But the other thing i kinda want to see is the clash between transformers that are jets and beasts -lets face it beast machines was ok but not that great -no guns was in full force on fox-i would like to see more actual guns used

Well, the lack of guns (but the still presence of other imaginative ranged weaponry like laser blasters and cannons) was an idea that came about from multiple parties at the time, in which they wanted to see the heroes fight their fights using more creative and cunning methods without having to rely on guns.

BM story editor Bob Skir once answered a question about this on his site from back in the day:

7) Just a quick question, in one of your earlier posts, you made a comment about how "Your"" heroes don't use guns, and that any one who wants to see that kind of thing should read the Punisher comic book. This statement has caused quite a bit of an uproar, both for and against. (Mostly against from what I read in discussion groups.) Could you clarify the statement a bit for us, and was it your decision, Fox's, or both to have the good guys not use guns? If so, why? Was it A PC decision, or a personal one. The reason I don't think it was Fox, is other show like the Big Guy seem to use guns on a fairly regular basis. Thanks for any help you can give on this.

Your question would require a dissertation to answer, but simply put, I personally would rather see heroes winning the day using their natural abilities and cunning than firepower. That's my personal preference. Hasbro said that this approach was what they were looking for, so we were both in synch (I didn't approach them with this radical notion; we approached each other and agreed). And whereas Fox will allow certain forms of guns and ammunition to be used in their shows, they generally shy away from it when it isn't necessary (and with characters with as many abilities and as much smarts as our Maximals possess, why arm them?). So, let's just say that We (the writers), Fox, Hasbro, and Mainframe agreed to dis-arming our heroes, thus pitting them against a planet of heavily-armed villains which will push them to their very limits, making them all the more heroic for the victories that they achieve.

I'm sorry if my personal approach/preferences disgusts/annoys/offends fans who like seeing heroes heavily armed. But for them, there *are* heroes who *do* need guns (such as the Punisher). Spider-Man doesn't need guns. Neither does the Hulk. And neither do Optimus, Cheetor, Black Arachnia, et al.

Interestingly enough, Animated would later repeat the lack of gun usage by the Autobots despite Skir/Mainframe/Fox not being involved in that series.

But if it's "jets vs. beasts, plus guns" you want, I'm not too sure Beast Wars II would deliver any better than Beast Machines did since, unlike Jetstorm and Aero Drones of BM, BWII's jet-based Predacons were pitiful comic relief goofballs who couldn't fly straight or fire accurately to save their own lives (based on what I could gather from episodes 1-4).

Though, RiD had a similar "vehicles vs. beasts" theme with guns, though there weren't much in the "jets" department.

And, Go! has the jetformer Jinbu among the Autobots fighting the beast-based Predacons in that series.

chaosmage42 wrote:don't ask me about grammer i hate grammer.

Aw, but he was a good Beast in X-Men: The Last Stand.

In all seriousness

chaosmage42 wrote:also i type the way i talk and thats a long sentence that takes a bit to end so i have to add the periods afterwards. Its confusing i know please bear with me if not you might go insane. joke

Alright. Though, care to rephrase what was said in the body of text I quoted before since I didn't quite get it?

chaosmage42 wrote:that aside humor is some thing i miss in the series as beast wars had a fair amount as well as shooting each other after all its the series with an energon fart that defeated an enemy

Ah, but the humor of the Japanese BW cartoons is a bit more on the... kiddie side. As in, jokes that only kindergartners would enjoy. The Pred jets I mentioned were pretty much dimwits who kept making mistakes, messing up each other's plans, and getting bonked around or beat up all the time when they're supposed to be the main threats who stand in the good guys' way.

Needless to say, the humor of those shows wasn't written on the same level of the U.S. series, which could be enjoyed by kids and adults of all ages, but was written more for the young ones of the wee ages.